Archive of Our Own

Eddie was feeling... incredibly neutral about his break up with Marisol, if he was being honest.

Part of it was the fact that he'd seen it coming. Asking her to move in and then almost immediately reneging on that was a jerk move, and he's well aware of that, even with the catholic guilt surrounding it all. He'd honestly been surprised when she didn't break up with him the day she moved back out, and he'd basically been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since.

He'd still been expecting to feel a little upset, though. He'd liked her a lot more than he'd ever liked Ana, could see himself loving her the way he'd loved Shannon. Instead, he just felt a guilty relief over there being one less person for him to schedule his life around, and a pang of regret that he'd once again introduced Christopher to someone who wasn't staying for the long haul.

Buck's (and Tommy's) apparent determination to make sure he barely got a minute alone with his thoughts probably didn't hurt.

"Come on, Diaz boys, up and at 'em!"

Eddie groaned, rolling over to bury his face further in his pillow. It had been a while since Buck had been free enough at the same time as Eddie to come over with surprise daytime plans, and he'd kind of relished the ability to sleep in more regularly.

Buck poked his head through Eddie's bedroom door with an obnoxious rapping, grinning when Eddie shifted to glare at him.

"Come on, Eds, you wake up earlier than this for work, I know it's not gonna kill you."

"Yeah, but that's for work," he groaned, before squinting blearily in Buck's direction. "Aren't you spending the day with Tommy?"

Buck shrugged, not moving from the doorway.

"He got called in last night, you know how it is. Just means I get to spend the day with my other favourite guys instead."

Eddie felt strangely warm at the way Buck still put their friendship front and centre, even when he was a good few months into a brand-new relationship.

"You're waking Chris up, I hope you know."

"Already did! He's prepping pancake batter in the kitchen while I drag your lazy ass out of bed. Thought we could go down to the park with his skateboard, later, unless he's suddenly too cool for that."

"If I suggested it, maybe, but he still seems fooled by you. God knows why, at this point."

Buck grinned, the same way he always did when he was reminded of Chris looking up to him.

"Tommy's cooler than me, last I heard."

"Well, yeah," Eddie said, laughing lightly. "Tommy flies helicopters, that beats the fire truck any day."

Buck sighed dramatically, looking wistfully out in the direction of the kitchen.

"Feels like barely a day's gone by since he was declaring me his best friend at every opportunity, and now I'm being replaced with my own damn boyfriend. I mean, I don't blame him, flying helicopters is pretty cool, but still."

Eddie grinned, finally swinging his legs over the edge of the bed in preparation to stand up.

"Just you wait, you've probably got about a year till he stops wanting to be seen in public with you. He's started to hit that point with me as it is."

"Oh god," Buck groaned, covering his face with his hands. "Please don't remind me that that's a phase. I can't deal with my little Superman turning into an angsty teen, Eds, who let him age? Should be damn illegal, he needs to stay seven forever."

"How do you think I feel? I still can't believe he's not a toddler anymore, let alone a teenager."

Fully off the bed now, Eddie grabbed some sweats and trudged towards the bathroom, unsurprised when Buck followed behind.

"Doesn't help that he's determined to grow up faster than he already is, though I guess that's also pretty normal for a 13-year-old. He's still got that sleepover tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's for Jason's birthday. Why, do we have plans?"

"Tommy booked the three of us reservations at that new Italian place that just opened, he wanted me to check we didn't need to extend the booking."

"Oh, I've been wanting to go there!" Eddie replied, perking up slightly, before glancing back at Buck once more and raising an eyebrow. "Now, are you gonna stand out there and listen to me use the bathroom, or do you want to maybe supervise my son so he doesn't accidentally burn down the house?"

Weirdly enough, Eddie thinks he actually spends more time around Buck and Tommy now that they're dating rather than less, not that he minds. It certainly helps that Buck is no longer feeling possessive over his relationships with either of them, wanting to have all his favourite people in one room whenever possible rather than panicking over both his role in Eddie and Chris' life and his burgeoning feelings for Tommy.

And it's... nice. Sweet. They don't always go out as a triad, with Buck coming over by himself plenty often and Tommy still dragging Eddie off to spar or watch a match when they have a free day together. The knowledge that they still care to include him mostly settles the worries he had that he'd end up feeling like Buck had when they first met Tommy, even with his understanding of the very different places they took in each other's lives.

That didn't seem to stop him from feeling a slight pang when he saw the two of them together, though.

He'd mentioned as much to Frank, in their newly resumed therapy sessions. Buck had encouraged him to go, after the impulsive actions he'd taken within his relationship with Marisol, and while he hadn't expected the turn their sessions had taken after Buck and Tommy had gotten serious, he certainly was grateful for them.

"Have you considered you may be jealous?" Frank asked, as placid as ever. "You have been Buck's closest confidant for years, and Tommy was your friend first. It's a big change."

Eddie frowned at that, doubtful.

"Why would I be jealous, though? They're still making time for me. Just as much as before, even if a chunk of it is all three of us together. And they're both happy together. I'm happy for them, they both deserve it."

Frank 'hmmed' thoughtfully at that, taking down a note.

"We haven't talked in a while about why you first came back to see me," he says, and Eddie furrowed his brow.

"You— you want to talk about Marisol again?" He asks, and Frank nods.

"I suspect our conversation may be enlightening to you."

"I just— Obviously you think it's related, but I can't see how for the moment. I didn't want a relationship like theirs with Marisol, though, if that's what you're getting at."

"It's not," Frank admitted, before continuing on. "Eddie, we've talked a lot about your history with relationships. About you never feeling quite fulfilled in them, always feeling like something was missing."

Eddie nodded, still not sure where Frank was going with this.

"I'd like you to take a moment now, to try and think about what that something was. Just close your eyes and think about it, you don't need to verbalise anything yet."

Eddie did just that, closing his eyes and picturing Shannon, Ana. Nothing had ever clicked quite right with either of them, even when things were at their best, even though he did love Shannon. It just... hadn't ever felt like enough. He loved her, and she loved him, but...

"I wasn't in love. With any of them."

Frank nodded, glancing down at his notes once more.

"I suspected as much."

"I thought I was, with Shannon. I definitely loved her, just... in the way you love a best friend, not in the way you should love your wife."

"And why do you think that is?"

Eddie thought for a few moments, cataloguing his relationship with her, thinking about his reaction to Buck and Tommy.

"Oh," he breathed out, once he got to the core of it all. "I'm... I'm fucking gay."

Frank smiled, genuine, and met Eddie's eyes.

"Let's talk about that."

Talking had been... a revelation, in more ways than just the one. Frank had seemed proud, encouraging, and had talked him down about several of his worries surrounding Christopher and the idea that he needed a mother figure.

He'd also seemed slightly amused when Eddie declared that he'd figured out his heart pangs were over the way Buck and Tommy were living life as their true, queer selves, in the type of relationship Eddie had always subconsciously longed for, but Eddie was ignoring that. It was just because Eddie had spent the majority of his time in therapy avoiding as much independent self-reflection as he possibly would, right up until this whole 'gay' revelation. It was probably amusing to the man that all it took to get Eddie there was a late-stage sexuality crisis, and Eddie couldn't blame him, not when it was amusing to him as well.

He'd decided to tell Buck and Tommy about it that night at dinner, now that he'd fully processed everything. He didn't want to hide it from either of them when they would obviously have no issues with him being queer, and no judgement for how late he was figuring this out.

He was unsurprised when they exchanged happy grins at his tentative announcement, and he felt his face turn hot as Tommy reached across the table to grasp one of his hands between his own.

"We're proud of you, Eddie. Figuring yourself out isn't easy, even at the best of times."

Eddie flushed at that, and it grew deeper when Buck reached across as well.

"I'm glad you trusted us with this so quickly," he said, squeezing his hand with a soft smile. "Have you told Chris yet? How'd he react?"

Eddie shook his head.

"I'm going to, I just..."

"Haven't found the right words yet?"

"Yeah."

Buck and Tommy exchanged another glance at that, fond in the way that still made his heart pang, even as it brought a smile to his face.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll go well."

"You raised a great kid, after all."

"The best," Eddie agreed, squeezing their hands, still interlaced with his own. "He's the best."

"Hey, Dad?" Chris asked, not two days later. "How come I'm not allowed to date multiple people at once when that's what you're doing?"

Eddie frowned, confused.

"What do you mean, bud? Me and Marisol broke up, remember?"

"I know you broke up with Marisol, Dad, I'm not talking about her!"

Chris' voice was strident, full of his new teenaged angst, so Eddie pointedly raised an eyebrow at him and waited for him to repeat himself more calmly.

"I just— I'm not a baby, I didn't forget you stopped dating her. And that you were only dating her when you were together. I'm not talking about then, though, I'm talking about now."

"I still don't know who you mean, buddy. I'm not dating anyone, I would've told you if I was. Even if the plan was to hold off on introducing you yet."

"You don't need to introduce me, Dad, and you know that. You don't need to hide it from me either, I'm fine with you liking guys."

Eddie stopped at that, somehow both touched and even more confused.

"I'm, uh. I'm glad to hear that, buddy. I've been meaning to tell you."

Chris grinned, triumphant.

"So you are dating them!"

"I still don't know who you're even talking about, Chris, so I'm definitely not dating them. I just... realised recently that I'm gay. I know this is probably a surprise to you, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have for me, okay?"

Chris rolled his eyes once more, and Eddie found himself both comforted by his dismissiveness and being struck, once again, by just how fast his son was growing up.

"I told you, I'm fine with that. I've known Denny has two moms since forever. I just don't get why you won't admit you're dating Buck and Tommy!"

Eddie stopped short at that, blinking at Chris in confusion.

"I— What?"

"It's fine that you are, dad, I'm just confused."

"Chris, mijo, I'm—"

"Because you told me you wanted to be more open about things like this with me, and both you and Buck said I wasn't allowed to have more than one girlfriend at school. I don't get why it's different when you're an adult."

"Christoper, I'm not dating Buck and Tommy!"

Eddie was fairly sure his face was bright red at this point, even with his complexion. Him, dating Buck and Tommy (at the same time)??? The idea of that was— The thought that—

Well.

Eddie had no idea what Chris had thought he'd picked up on, but it definitely wasn't anything real.

Chris, in turn, looked as confused as Eddie felt.

"You're not?"

"No, mijo. Buck and Tommy are dating each other. I'm just good friends with them both."

"...Don't you like them, though?"

"I— They— They're my two closest friends, but that's different. You really like Jason, but you don't wanna date him, do you?"

Chris frowned up at Eddie, doubtful.

"I also don't cuddle Jason when we watch movies together," he pointed out. "Or talk about him every single time we go see Tia Pepa."

"I—" Eddie started, still not sure how to explain it all to Chris. "Things are different, when you're an adult."

Chris still didn't look convinced.

"Isn't dating just spending a lot of time with someone you like like?" He asked.

"I guess?"

"And didn't you tell me that wanting to spend all your time with someone is one of the ways to know if you like like someone?"

"One of, yes."

"And have you not been spending basically all of your free time with the two of them, even before you and Marisol stopped dating?"

"Yes, but Chris, friends can spend a lot of time together too."

"Are you sure you aren't dating them?"

"Yes. I'm sure. If I was, you'd be the first to know, I promise."

The thing was, once Chris had put the idea in his head, he couldn't quite get it out.

Not the idea that he was dating them. He would know if he was dating someone, he was sure of it. But the idea that he wanted to date them?

He'd never thought about dating more than one person before. If you'd asked him six months ago, he'd say he was strictly monogamous, possibly to the point of self-destructive behaviour. He'd been with a grand total of three people in his entire life (four, if you counted the girl he kissed during a game of Spin the Bottle as a sophomore in high school, but Eddie generally didn't), and he'd stayed loyal to Shannon even when he was half-convinced he'd literally never see her again.

Then again, six months ago he'd also have called himself strictly heterosexual, so maybe he needed to stop defining himself based on who he used to be.

Because really. Buck and Tommy were both attractive, kind, and fun. Those facts were undeniable. He'd walked in on them making out in Buck's kitchen a couple of weeks back, and had felt so flustered that he'd literally walked into a doorframe in his attempt to leave the scene, apologising loudly as he did.

He hadn't understood at the time, why he felt so guilty over his embarrassment. Why he could still picture, clear as day in his brain, the image they had made together.

Why he'd cared so much more than either of them had.

He... was starting to understand why Frank had looked so amused when he'd said he'd figured out why his heart was panging when he looked at Buck and Tommy together.

The problem with being unable to get the idea out of his head was, well, he was unable to get the idea out of his head. Which would maybe be fine if he was literally anyone else realising he was half in love with his two best friends, but he was not literally anyone else, and he happened to spend basically every possible waking moment hanging out with one or both of them. As it was, he'd had to cancel on a planned outing with the two of them, because he was sure that they'd somehow be able to intuit everything Eddie had been thinking about within the first five minutes of the day.

(If he was being completely honest, he was more than half in love with Buck, but he couldn't think about that right now. Buck and Tommy were so, so good together, and he'd never want to ruin that. Daydreams, on the other hand, were allowed).

This became blindingly obvious the next day they were on shift, when Buck held out his hand for the saw and Eddie handed him a crowbar instead.

"Are you two... Okay?" Hen asked, eyebrow raised. "Haven't had an argument that's interfering with your freaky mind-reading abilities, have you?"

"No! I mean. Yes. No argument," Eddie stammered (stammered, like he was 16-years-old again and talking to that popular footballer he'd sat next to in math class), and it was Buck's turn to send him a weird look.

"Yeah Hen, we're all good," he confirmed, though he was side-eyeing Eddie as he said it. "I think Eds just needs a nap, he was up pretty late last night."

It was true, he had been. He'd found himself lying in bed unable to sleep the past two nights, rotating the idea of Buck and Tommy and him around his mind on repeat, trying to make sense of his own desires. It had gotten to the point where he found himself texting their group chat a rambling message about how good they were as a couple and how glad he was to know them both, half delirious from the lack of sleep.

If the heart emoji and 'we're grateful to know you too, Eds' he'd gotten in reply had made him feel embarrassedly giddy, well, that was no one's business but his own.

"Did you figure it out?"

"What?" Eddie asked, confused, as Hen cornered him in the bunk room.

"That'll be a no, then," she sighed, and Eddie frowned at her.

"I still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, trust me Diaz, I'm well aware." She seemed amused despite her clear frustration with him, and he squinted at her hoping it would prompt her to elaborate further.

"I thought, earlier, with Buck mentioning you blowing him off and your weirdness at the scene, that you might've gotten a clue."

Eddie blinked once, then twice, before groaning when he fully processed what she'd said.

"Did everyone know besides me?"

"So you do know," she smirked, before tilting her head as she thought about it. "I'm not sure if Buck knows, considering, but everyone else does."

"Considering what?" Eddie asked, and she pulled a face that indicated she thought he was stupid.

"Considering he's still with Tommy? Look, I really like the guy these days and I think he's great for Buck, but you two have history. If he knew you were an option, I'm not sure they'd last."

Eddie pulled a face at that, somewhat offended on Buck's behalf, and he had to carefully temper his tone so he didn't snap back at her unduly.

"I'm not so sure he would, actually, but that's fine. It's not like I actually want him to choose, anyway."

Hen's expression softened, and she reached out a hand to clasp his shoulder.

"You deserve happiness too, you know? And I think you and Buck could be real happy with each other."

"That's not—" Eddie started, before scrubbing a rough hand over his face. "We probably could be, you're right. That's just... not all I want, I guess."

Hen looked confused for a moment, before realisation dawned.

"Oh," she said, clearly reconfiguring things in her brain. "You want to be with both of them. Buck and Tommy, not just Buck."

Eddie nodded, somewhat avoiding her gaze, and she tightened her grip on his shoulder for a second before letting it drop when he looked back at her face.

"Hey, you know none of us will judge you, right? We might need to explain a few things to some folks, but everyone just wants to see you guys happy."

"Buck is happy, though," Eddie pointed out, and Hen laughed.

"He certainly is. I haven't seen him with this much pep since the early days with Abby, and even then, it never quite sat right on him. But that doesn't mean he couldn't be happier, you realise? And honestly, Eddie, the fact that you want both of them makes it weirdly a lot easier to start off with. It'll take effort and good communication, don't get me wrong, but..."

"At least I'm not gonna have to be a homewrecker to get what I want?"

She laughed again at that, shaking her head in amusement.

"Not quite how I'd thought you'd phrase that, but yeah. No homewrecking needed. Just..." She trailed off for a moment, before flashing him a smile. "Feel free to come to me or Karen if you ever need to talk this out. I know it can't have been an easy road, Mr 'I need to find a mother for Christopher.'"

Eddie huffed out a sigh at that, smiling sheepishly.

"Yeah, Frank pointed out that approaching my dating life with that whole sentiment is part of why my relationships have been failing so miserably. Though the part where I kept trying to date women didn't help either."

Hen laughed again, knocking her knee against his on the bunk.

"I can imagine. But you know, Eddie, things would be different with Buck and Tommy, if you were brave enough to just ask them. Because Buck definitely wants you as badly as you want him, and some of the stuff Tommy was dragging you to right at the beginning sounded very date-like to me."

As Eddie opened his mouth to protest that, the door to the bunk room opened, and Buck bustled in before pausing at the sight of them.

"Are you two good? Was gonna hit the bunks for a quick nap before we get our next call, but if you need the privacy I'm happy to wait."

"Bunks all yours," Hen said, pushing herself up from where she'd been sitting. "Though probably not this one, unless you wanna share with Eddie. I'm pretty sure he was also trying to nap before I accosted him."

"Nah, Eddie's a blanket hog, I learnt that during COVID. Maybe if it were warmer out, but…"

Hen raised an eyebrow at that, even though their COVID bedsharing was in no way news to her, before she started walking out of the bunk room.

"Just think about it, Eddie," she called back, and he sighed.

"Yeah Hen, I will."

He already was, after all.

"Are you actually okay?" Buck asked later, concerned. "It seemed like you were having a pretty serious conversation with Hen, earlier, and you cancelled on us yesterday."

"Just... Been thinking through some things, that's all. I talked to Chris the other day, and it went well, but it made me realise something."

"Something... Bad?" Buck asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous, and Eddie shook his head.

"Not bad. Just... new, I guess. I hope not bad, anyway."

"In that case, do you wanna come out with me and Tommy tonight? We were gonna ask if you were up to it anyway, head to that diner by yours, but now we can make it a celebration of you coming out to Chris. You can bring him along too?"

"He's at a friend's house this evening, but other than that... Yeah. The diner sounds good."

"It's a date, then," Buck says, already pulling out his phone to text Tommy, and thus completely missing the way Eddie froze at that phrasing.

Because fuck.

Was it?

He kept turning the question over and over in his brain.

Because yes, it was a turn of phrase. One Buck and Tommy had both used before, even.

But he was beginning to realise that neither of them had really used it prior to his break up with Marisol.

Buck could tell he was overthinking something, he was sure. He sent Eddie questioning looks the entire drive to the diner (because of course Buck insisted on driving them both, even when they were going in Eddie's truck; he knew how much Eddie hated LA traffic), and Eddie just did his best to portray an air of calm confidence that he knew he didn't possess.

They pulled up at the diner sooner than Eddie expected, Buck pulling in next to Tommy's car in the small strip of street parking out front. Before they got out of the car, Buck laid a gentle hand on his arm and ducked down slightly to better meet Eddie's eyes.

"You know you can come to me and Tommy about anything, yeah?" He asked, gentle, and Eddie swallowed once, then twice under the warm weight of his gaze.

"Yeah," He finally managed, and Buck grinned.

"Good."

The diner wasn't very busy, which wasn't a shock considering it was almost 8. Tommy had claimed a booth for the three of them, though he stood to greet Eddie with a hug and Buck with a kiss before letting them know he needed to duck off to the bathroom.

"If the waitress comes over, I trust you both to order for me. I got a pot of coffee for the table already — decaf, Buck, not all of us have ADHD — and it should be coming out soon."

Buck pouted at that, and Tommy laughed before brushing another kiss across his lips.

"How many cups have you had so far today?" He asked, and Buck's pout deepened.

"Not that many!"

"Eddie, how many?"

Eddie hummed, counting it back in his head.

"Four that I saw, and one was in the last hour of our shift. Though there was a maybe twenty-minute period in the middle of the day where I was in the bunk room without him, and we both know what he's like when left unattended."

Buck looked a little sheepish at that, and he sighed before leaning in for one final kiss and then sitting down with a huff.

"Fine, fine, I'll be good. Eddie will watch me and make sure I don't secretly order more coffee, you don't need to stand here like a weirdo till the waitress arrives."

Tommy rolled his eyes fondly at that, brushing a hand across Buck's shoulder before heading off.

"So," Buck said, leaning in conspiratorially as soon as Tommy was out of earshot. "How many weeks of covering your cleaning duties would it take for you to get me some real coffee?"

Eddie knocked his foot against Buck's, shaking his head in amusement.

"You're relentless, aren't you? Anyway, far too many for you to actually take me up on it. Just suck it up and drink the decaf, it's not like it tastes that different to the stuff we have at the firehouse."

Buck heaved out a dramatic sigh, collapsing down slightly in his seat.

"Maybe, but it's the principle of the matter, Eds! Besides, I didn't even get to enjoy half of them, the call gods kept sensing when I'd sat down to drink one."

"The call gods sensed it? The non-existent ones? And Buck, we only had like four calls today. I feel like that says more about your timing than anything else."

"Only four calls, and somehow they all interrupted my coffee time. You telling me that doesn't sound like divine intervention to you?"

"If there is some sort of higher power, I doubt they'd be spending their free time messing with your quiet enjoyment of your coffee."

"Nah, Eddie, that's how they get you. One minute, you're sipping away at your coffee, hoping that this time you might be able to finish it slowly instead of draining it in one go, then the universe overhears and nudges Mr Snugglepuss to scale a tree he can't climb back down just to fuck with you."

"You guys talking about work?" Tommy asked, sitting himself down next to Eddie, and Eddie froze even as Buck grinned.

"Yeah, I got to get a cat down from a tree today. Always makes me feel like I'm in a picture book or something, you know?"

"Yeah, I remember those days. There was somehow always both less and more of those types of calls than I expected when joining up, and I'm not sure how."

Tommy's leg was warm against Eddie's thigh, and it felt like every nerve in his body was lighting up to make him aware of that fact.

Was this... Normal? It certainly was for them— Buck, Tommy, and Eddie generally weren't fussed about where exactly they sat when they were all out together, and he'd ended up beside one of them as often as he did across.

But for other people? Wouldn't it be typical for the couple to sit next to each other at a place like this, with the third wheel across from them? And wasn't it odd that Tommy (and Buck) would both sit so close to him that their legs were actively pressing together, no deference given to the concept of personal space?

He could hear Buck and Tommy continue talking beside him, content to chatter on without his input, and he felt so blindingly grateful for their understanding that he almost felt more overwhelmed, and he only pulled out of it when he heard their waitress finally approach their table with the coffee.

"I'll have the French toast," he said, after Buck and Tommy both gave their orders, and the waitress smiled warmly at him before departing with a cheery "It'll all be out soon!"

Buck knocked a foot into Eddie's as he gazed after the waitress, raising an eyebrow when Eddie met his eyes.

'You with us?' His expression asked, and Eddie nodded with a small smile. He was probably just overthinking things.

Eddie... was possibly not overthinking things.

Because while the night was progressing more or less like normal, Eddie was beginning to realise that maybe he'd actually been underthinking it before now. Because none of their behaviour would've felt out of place on a date.

Tommy somehow seemed to shift closer over the course of the meal, one arm now stretched out on the back of the booth and bracketing Eddie's body.

Buck, for his part, had spent a not inconsiderable amount of time playing footsie with him, and his smirk at Eddie's initial raised eyebrow made it clear he knew exactly whose foot he had trapped between his own.

And when the waitress came around asking if they were wanting to order dessert, Buck didn't hesitate before ordering their usual two to split between all three of them.

"Are we— Are we dating?" Eddie finally asked, eyes wide, and Buck and Tommy shared a small grin.

"We were wondering when you would catch on."

Holy. Shit.

"We are?" He exclaimed, before the rest of Buck's words processed. "Wait, what do you mean you've been waiting for me to catch on? How long have you both known we're dating?"

"Since… around the time we started dating," Tommy admitted, before grinning a shit-eating grin. "Surprise, we've been together for two months now."

"I don't know if it counts if I didn't know," Eddie protested, mind still whirling. "Are you— Do you mean you both talked about this?"

They shrugged, and Buck leant forward to explain.

"I realised a couple of months into dating Tommy that our friendship wasn't exactly, uh, platonic. Definitely not from my end, and probably not from yours either. But I didn't wanna break up him, so I talked to him about it."

"And I admitted that I'd actually tried to ask you out on a date when we first met, before I knew you were seeing Marisol. I thought that Buck was cute, but figured we had slightly more in common."

"So then you two decided to what, sneak-date me?" Eddie asked faintly, and Buck grinned.

"I've been calling it stealth-dating, but uh. Yeah. We wanted to hang out with you either way, and I figured it was a good way to feel out how you felt about us both."

"If we've been reading you wrong and you're not into this, that's still fine, Eddie. We still want to be your friends, and we'll respect it if you need to set boundaries for that. We know it's a little odd, we just..."

"Both really like you."

Eddie sat for another moment, turning the idea over in his head. 48 hours ago, he'd been incredulous at Chris' suggestion that he'd been unknowingly dating his best friends. Discovering that against all odds, Chris was right?

He didn't know how to handle it.

"I… have to go pick up Chris," he finally said, voice sounding distant to his ears.

"Okay," Tommy replied, placing a grounding hand on Eddie's shoulder. "Are you feeling up to driving right now? I know we've just thrown a lot at you. We don't need to talk about it yet if you're not ready."

"I— I think I need the drive to get my thoughts in order," Eddie admitted, and Buck knocked his foot into Eddie's reassuringly.

"That's fine, Eds. Take as long as you need."

"Can— Can you go to mine while I'm getting him? I do wanna talk this out, I just—"

"Need a few minutes. We get it."

Eddie stayed mostly silent in the car ride home with Chris, which he tried not to feel too guilty about. He was doing his best to pay attention to Chris' chattering about the movie he'd just seen, but he couldn't stop thinking about how hopeful Buck had looked at the diner, the warmth of Tommy's hand on his shoulder. Chris, thankfully, didn't notice anything off, and seemed utterly unsurprised when Eddie told him they had guests over.

"Can I stay up with you three?" He asked, hopeful, and Eddie huffed out a laugh.

"You already know that that's not happening," he replied. "I've let you stay out past your bedtime as it is, mijo."

"So a little later won't hurt! I don't even have school tomorrow."

"You can talk with them for ten minutes, but that's it. I'll see if they're free to hang out tomorrow instead, okay?"

He was hoping that things tonight went well enough that he could, anyway. If not, Chris wouldn't be too upset. He was used to the slightly unpredictable schedules of firefighting by now, and he understood that sometimes Buck and Tommy had other things to do.

Unsurprisingly, Chris seemed perfectly happy with that, and he started planning out ideas for what they could do as Eddie turned into their street.

He barely waited for Eddie to turn the car off before he was scrambling to get his seatbelt off, and Eddie grinned indulgently when he clambered out of the car and up to the front door without waiting for assistance.

"Buck, Tommy, Dad says we can all go out and do something tomorrow if you're free!" He called out as they entered, and Buck grinned.

"Oh really?" He asked, meeting Eddie's eyes over the top of Chris' head and raising a questioning eyebrow.

Eddie nodded in reply, and Tommy dropped down into a squat so that he could meet Chris' eyes with a warm smile.

"Let's hope that me and Buck don't get called in then, yeah?"

Chris stretched his allowed ten minutes out to twenty, but did shuffle off to bed with minimal complaining once Eddie began actually herding him there. Once he was no longer there to serve as a buffer, however, an awkward silence descended upon the trio.

"Want to grab some beers for while we... talk?" Eddie eventually asked, already moving towards the kitchen, and Buck and Tommy both followed behind him. They grabbed their beers and settled themselves leaning against opposite counters in the kitchen, Buck and Tommy across from Eddie.

"So," he said, fiddling with the neck of his beer, and Buck laughed from his spot against Tommy's side.

"So."

"I— I've only figured this all out recently," Eddie admitted. "I mean, I'm sure you could guess that, considering when I came out to you, but. You guys are about a hundred steps in front of me, especially considering you seem to have figured out I wasn't straight before I even did."

"I'd... honestly been wondering since before I even realised I was bi," Buck admitted, sheepish. "The whole Ana situation was..."

"A pretty big sign in retrospect, yeah," Eddie sighed, before raising an eyebrow at Buck. "Might've been nice for my best friend to clue me in on that one before my therapist had to, though."

Buck gasped, jabbing a dramatic finger at Tommy.

"I wanted to tell you I thought you were gay, but Tommy said you needed to figure it out yourself."

Tommy rolled his eyes, batting Buck's finger away fondly.

"I believe what I said was that you'd get there eventually, and that our assumptions would just make things more confusing for you."

"Bold words from the man who kissed me into my bi crisis," Buck accused, still jabbing at him, and Tommy laughed.

"Maybe if you hadn't been so blatantly flirting with me, I'd have realised you hadn't had it yet!" He replied, trapping Buck's hand between his own.

"Well, that's your own fault for being so pretty. My brain stops functioning around pretty people, you should know this by now. Just ask Chim, he can tell you stories."

"You're telling me I'm too pretty? Have you looked in the mirror lately? Or at our very attractive best friend?"

"Oh, you mean the one we successfully stealth-dated? Because whose idea was that again? Mine, right?"

"I think the fact that I agreed to the plan means I already agreed it would probably work," Tommy started. "Even if I had some doubts at first. I'd argue that the plan changed enough once we started talking about it that it came from both of us, though—"

"Hey, no, it was still my plan—"

"Your plan had us tempting him into kissing us like three weeks in—"

"It did not, I was just hopeful that if we told him he was gay the rest of the realisation would happen sooner—"

"Guys," Eddie said pointedly, waiting a second for their bickering to die down. "It's not a competition, you're both pretty. Smart could go either way."

Buck grinned at that, but let the argument drop.

"Anyway, yes Eddie, I probably could've brought it up with you earlier. I just wasn't sure it was my place, I guess."

"It's all good, Buck. I did get here eventually, after all, and I think that talking it through with Frank and Chris is what I needed."

"With Chris?" Tommy asked, surprised, and Eddie laughed.

"Uh, yeah. When I came out to him the other night, he was pretty insistent that I'd been dating you two and was annoyed I hadn't told him. I thought he was just, well, projecting I guess? Till we went out tonight and I realised that yeah, we were acting like we were all on a date."

"You know, we had a lot of different guesses as to when and how you'd eventually figure us out," Buck admitted, grinning wryly. "Don't think 'Chris figures it out first and tells you' was ever on the cards, though, was it babe?"

"Definitely not," Tommy agreed with a smirk, and Eddie groaned.

"Yeah, my kid is more emotionally mature than me, I get it."

"I think this means we have his blessing though, which..."

Buck trailed off here, contemplative, and a glance at Tommy showed he was having a similar train of thought.

"It definitely makes things slightly simpler. Assuming you're into this, at least."

"I am. Into this, I mean." Eddie admitted, and Buck lit up before practically skipping across the kitchen to stand in front of him, Tommy a pace or two behind.

"Does this mean we can finally kiss you? Because Eddie, I gotta say, we really wanna kiss you."

Eddie choked, flushing bright red under Buck's warm gaze and Tommy's knowing smirk. He'd been so preoccupied by the idea that he'd been unknowingly dating his best friends that he'd forgotten the kinds of things dating usually entailed.

"I don't know, babe, do you think kissing him first still counts as breaking? Are you sure you want to lose?"

Before Eddie had a chance to filter through what, exactly, Tommy meant by that, Buck had stepped closer into Eddie's space.

"Mm, no, that was only about kissing him before he figured out we were dating. He knows now, and I'm not willing to leave our boyfriend unkissed."

Tommy stepped closer as well, habitually wrapping an arm around Buck's waist, and Eddie found his gaze flicking between their two faces.

"...Our boyfriend?" He finally asked, and they both softened.

"You didn't think we were just in it to have a little fun, did you?" Tommy asked, eyebrow raised, as Buck frowned at him.

Eddie had honestly not even gotten that far, too distracted by the fact that this was something he actually wanted in the first place. So he stayed silent, which Buck seemed to take as answer enough.

"Nah, Eds, we're in it for the long haul. This isn't a one-time thing, not for us."

Buck seemed nervous, which made sense. The whole 'stealth-dating' plan was tailor-made to not rock the status quo while still giving them all what they wanted, and it was obvious that Buck was worried that now that he was aware of what was happening Eddie would kick them both out of his and Christopher's lives. He had a lot he could say to that— that no matter what happened between them, Buck would always be Chris' other parental figure, that he'd loved Buck so long that it felt as natural as breathing, that he could see himself falling so, so easily over that same precipice when it came to Tommy, even if neither of them were quite there yet. But the words were stuck in his throat, and he could see Buck getting more and more worried as the time passed without a response.

So rather than answer verbally, Eddie leant in and brushed a gentle kiss over Buck's lips.

Buck's eyes fluttered closed at the contact, a shy smile spreading across his face, even with the kiss being as brief as it was.

"Yeah?" He breathed, tentative, hopeful, and Eddie grinned.

"Yeah," he breathed back, happier than he'd ever thought he'd get to be, before deliberately looking at Tommy. "I'm in it for the long haul. With both of you."

"Oh-thank-god," Buck blurted out, all in a rush, and Tommy barked out a laugh.

"That was his biggest worry, going into this. That you wouldn't be interested in me. I told him it was fine, that he could still have both of us, but..."

"He wanted it to be us three, together, not him dating us separately. I get it."

"Look, you two get along so well that I literally had a jealous fit over it before I realised you still were holding a place for me. And you're both hot as fuck, which I knew even before I fully let myself appreciate it as a bisexual man. Can you blame me?"

It was Eddie's turn to laugh at that, thinking back to the way he'd felt when he walked in on them making out in Buck's loft, the way neither of them had seemed particularly bothered by having 'lost track of time'.

"No," he agreed. "I really can't."

"Speaking of..." Buck said, glancing between the two of them before waggling his eyebrows meaningfully.

"I think he wants something," Tommy said, grinning, and Eddie grinned back.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," he continued, swaying in closer to Eddie. "Only question is whether we want to give it to him."

Eddie hummed, gaze flicking to Tommy's lips.

"That is a very important question," Eddie agreed, and Tommy smirked, gaze darkening.

"Do you think he deserves it?"

"Maybe," he said. "Maybe not. But I know I do."

With that, he crashed their lips together, finally giving in to the impulse that had been hiding away in his chest.

His kiss with Buck had been soft. Chaste. It was a storybook first kiss, and perfect in its simplicity.

Kissing Tommy was a different beast entirely, but somehow no less fitting. There was a faint rasp of stubble from where Tommy's five o'clock shadow had grown in, and a flicker of tongue that had Eddie's mouth opening on instinct. It’s hot, and wet, and just a little bit desperate, and Eddie felt like he could drown in the sensation.

"God I love my life," Buck said, still standing beside them, and Eddie had to pull away to laugh.

"Imagine if the you from our first shift together could see us now."

"I'm like 90% sure that the reason you pissed me off so much is because seeing your abs awakened something in me, so maybe he'd be into this," Buck admitted. "Like, I was definitely insecure about my place at the station, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason I dealt with that by trying to show off to you in the gym. Hell, I did it again when I thought you were replacing me with Tommy, and I was still somehow surprised to realise I was as in love with you as I was interested in him."

Tommy barked out a laugh at that, sounding genuinely delighted.

"Did you really? You never told me that."

Buck grinned at him, somewhat sheepish.

"Yeah, it was this whole thing. He talking to you on a call in the locker room, and I added a bunch more weights to the machine and kept craning to see if he'd noticed."

"I hadn't," Eddie admitted, smiling apologetically. "I sorta wish I had, because then I'd have probably figured out something was off before the basketball game."

"Then again," Buck said, pausing to flit a chaste kiss against Tommy's lips and then Eddie's, "If it wasn't for that basketball game, there's a chance we wouldn't have ended up here. So it's not all bad."

"No," Eddie said, leaning in again. "It isn't."

"See, I told you!" Chris exclaimed, about ten minutes later, and Eddie pulled away from where he'd been kissing Tommy faster than he'd have thought humanly possible.

"Chris, bud, why aren't you in bed?" He asked, voice high, and Chris rolled his eyes.

"I wanted a drink, Dad. But I told you! And Buck, you said it was bad to tell multiple people they were special at once."

The, 'How is this any different' was left unsaid, but they all could hear it. Buck huffed out a laugh and stepped towards Chris, ruffling his hair fondly.

"I did say that, didn't I? The thing is, Chris, it's not quite as simple as that. Sometimes, when you're older, you might date multiple people at once. It's only a problem if you aren't all talking about it, you see? When Jessica found out you'd been seeing Penny, she was pretty upset, yeah?"

"Yeah," Chris agreed, slightly sullen. "She yelled at me in school the next day. I felt bad."

"She was upset because she hadn't known you were talking to someone else 'til then, and hadn't agreed to it. Me and Tommy, we talked about it, when we realised we both wanted to date your dad as well as each other. And your dad knows we've been together for a little bit, and is happy to join in and date us both. If any one of us didn't want this, or had worries about how even or fair the relationship is, we'd sit down together and figure out what needed to change."

"But," Eddie interrupted, ducking down to meet Chris' eyes. "This is something that we're deciding as adults. Even normal relationships take a lot of trust and communication, if you want them to last. Adding another person into the mix doubles those things, and it's not something that most people are interested in."

Chris narrows his eyes between the three of them, before straightening slightly, a serious look on his face.

"Does this mean Tommy will be coming over more?"

Tommy had been hanging back slightly while Eddie and Buck explained, slightly unsure of his place in the parental dynamic, but he stepped closer at that.

"Is that something you'd be okay with?"

He asked, and Chris rolled his eyes again.

"Of course I am! You're cool," he declared, and Tommy grinned.

"And you're okay with me dating your dad and your Buck?"

Chris nodded, before wrinkling his nose slightly.

"As long as you don't kiss too often in front of me. That was gross."

Tommy huffed out a laugh at that, and Buck and Eddie exchanged mischievous grins.

"Gross, you say?" Eddie says, advancing forward.

"Is it as gross as... This?" Buck asks, before pouncing on Chris and wrapping his arms around the boy.

"No!" Chris protested through giggles, squirming as Eddie and Buck both leaned down and started smattering his face with kisses. "Tommy, save me!"

"I don't know, kid, I think you brought this on yourself."

"I'm sorry I called kissing gross! I won't do it again if you save me!"

"Do you believe him, Buck? I don't know if I believe him."

"I could use some more convincing," Buck agreed, tickling Chris mercilessly, and Eddie just had to grin, because this was his life now.

And he was going to hold onto it with everything he had.